The presence of salts, detergents and other contaminants in a sample can be deleterious to the biochemical analysis of the sample. Many sample preparation devices have been developed in the biochemical art to remove solvent, solute and other molecules/materials from a liquid sample that contains the analyte of interest.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,048,457 and 6,200,474 describes pipette tips with chromatography media in them for the purification of proteins and peptides. The chromatography media typically consists of functionalized glass beads with C4, C18, or a strong cationic resin such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polytetrafluoroethylene, cellulose acetate, polystyrene, polystyrene/acrylonitrile copolymer and PVDF. U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,502 also describes a sample purification pipette tip having a solid matrix coating on the interior surface of the pipette tip for sample separation and purification. The solid matrix is composed of a polymeric substance such as polytetrafluoroethylene, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polystyrene, polystyrene/acrylonitrile copolymer, and polyvinylidene fluoride.
There still exists a need, however, for sample preparation devices that are easy to use and can be manufactured at low cost.